Tag: optimal health

Family Time is the Best Time

Just as you need movement or exercise and good nutrition for physical health, you also need social connection for your mental health. Endless studies highlight the benefits of social connection.  These studies suggest that social connection strengthens your immune system, lowers anxiety and depression, increases self-confidence, empathy, and trust. Spending time with family and friends increases social connection but also provides significant benefits to children. Some of the benefits of family time for children include:

  • building confidence
  • creating life-long memories
  • creating a stronger emotional bond between parents and children
  • allowing for better communication between family members and others
  • increasing performance in school
  • increasing opportunities to model behaviors such as conflict resolution, confidence, and happiness

As you continue practicing social distancing, you can think through opportunities for volunteering, cooking (especially new cuisines and dishes), and physical activities as a few options for family time that can fit into your wellness journey and hopefully start theirs.

Meditation: Your New and Improved Mental Health Practice

There are various forms of meditation with different objectives: a time for quiet or a time for prayer. No matter the objective, all forms of meditation share at least one outcome. Meditation elicits relaxation and calmness which can improve your health by reducing stress.  Here are a few ways to conduct your own meditation session.

Breathe deeply – Focus on your breathing and concentrate on feeling and listening as you inhale and exhale. Breathe deeply and slowly.

Scan your body – Focus your attention on different parts of your body. Become aware of any pain, tension, or relaxation throughout your body. You can add in breathing exercises and imagine breathing relaxation into different parts of your body.

Repeat a mantra – Find or create your own mantra. It can be religious or secular.

Walk and meditate – Slow down your walking pace and focus on each movement of your legs or feet. Do not focus on a destination.     

Engage in prayer – Prayer is the best known and most widely practiced example of meditation. You can pray using your own words or read prayers written by others.

Read and reflect – Read poems or sacred texts and take a few moments to quietly reflect on their meaning.  You can also listen to music or spoken words. You can write your reflections in a journal or discuss them with a friend or spiritual leader.

Focus your love and gratitude – Close your eyes and focus your attention on feelings of love, compassion, and gratitude.

If you are a beginner who may struggle sitting still, a meditation session can be held in a minimum of one minute. As you continue to practice this time can increase and you should see improvements in your stress levels and self-awareness. If you have already started a meditation practice, hopefully the list above provides you a way to enhance your session.  Happy Meditation!